Do you really know how to forward e-mail?

50% of us do; 50% do NOT. Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail? Don't you just hate it?

Everytime you forward an e-mail there is information left over from the people who got the message before you, namely their e-mail addresses & names.

As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds, and all it takes is for some poor sap to get a virus, and his or her computer can send that virus to every e-mail address that has come across his computer often without ever knowing it.

Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them or send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit. That's right, all of that inconvenience over a nickel!

Not only that, most people resent having their e-mail address sent to someone they don't even know.

How do you stop it? Well, there are two easy steps:

1. When you forward an e-mail, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message. That's right, DELETE them. Highlight them and delete them, backspace them, cut them, whatever it is you know how to do. It only takes a second. You MUST click the "Forward" button first, then you will have full editing capabilities against the body and headers of the message.

Remember, If you don't click on "Forward" first, you won't be able to edit the message at all.

2. Whenever you send an e-mail to more than one person, do NOT use the To: or Cc: columns for adding an e-mail address.

Always use the BCC: (blind carbon copy) column for listing the e-mail addresses. This is the way that only people you send to can see their own e-mail address.

If you don't see your BCC: option click on where it says To: and your address list will appear. Highlight the address and choose BCC: and that's it. It's that easy.

When you send to BCC, your message will automatically say "Undisclosed Recipients" in the "TO:" field of the people who receive it.